PERSONAL DATA: Born in Winona, Mississippi, on October
22, 1933. Married. Three children and four grandchildren.

EDUCATION: Graduated from Winona City High School,
Winona, Mississippi; received a bachelor of science degree from the United
States Military Academy at West Point, New York, in 1955, and a master's degree
in Nuclear Engineering from the Air Force Institute of Technology,
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, in 1962.

SPECIAL HONORS: Awarded the Air Force Commendation
Medal, the Meritorious Service Medal, and the JSC Group Achievement Award
(1972).

EXPERIENCE: Peterson graduated from West Point in 1955.
His assignments included four years as a flight instructor and military training
officer with the Air Training Command, three years as a nuclear systems analyst
with the Air Force Systems Command, and one year as a fighter pilot with
Tactical Air Command, including 3 months combat weapons training.

He is a graduate of the Aerospace Research Pilot School. Edwards Air Force Base,
California, and was one of the third group of astronauts assigned to the USAF
Manned Orbiting Laboratory Program.

He has logged over 5,300 hours flying time--including more than 5,000 hours in
jet aircraft.

NASA EXPERIENCE: Peterson became a NASA astronaut in
September 1969. He served on the astronaut support crew for Apollo 16.

Peterson retired from the United States Air Force with the rank of colonel after
having completed more than 24 years of active service, but continued his
assignment as a NASA astronaut in a civilian capacity. His areas of
responsibility have included engineering support, man/machine interface, and
safety assessment.

Peterson was a mission specialist on STS-6, which launched from Kennedy Space
Center, Florida, on April 4, 1983. He was accompanied by Mr. Paul J. Weitz
(spacecraft commander), Col. Karol J. Bobko (pilot), and Dr. F. Story Musgrave
(mission specialist). During this maiden voyage of the spacecraft Challenger,
the STS-6 crew conducted numerous experiments in materials processing, recorded
lightning activities, deployed the first Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS-A),
and activated three Getaway Specials. Peterson and Musgrave conducted an
extravehicular activity (EVA), commonly called a "spacewalk," to test
the new suit, the Shuttle airlock, and new tools and techniques for construction
and repair outside a spacecraft. After 120 hours of orbital operations STS-6
landed on the concrete runway at Edwards Air Force Base, California, on April 9,
1983. With the completion of this flight Don Peterson has logged 4 hours 15
minutes in extravehicular activity, and a total of 120 hours in space.

POST-NASA EXPERIENCE: Peterson resigned from the
Astronaut Office in November 1984, and since that time has worked as a
consultant in the area of manned aerospace operations.

NASA Group 7 - 1969 NASA was forced to take on seven pilot-astronauts from the cancelled USAF MOL military space station program. All of these men would have to wait to the shuttle era for space missions, but they all would eventually fly. More...

Apollo 19 Crew: Haise, Pogue, Carr. Apollo 19 was originally planned to land in the Hyginus Rille region, which would allow study of lunar linear rilles and craters.The original July 1972 landing date was extended when NASA cancelled the Apollo 20 mission in January 1970.Support crew: England, Hartsfield, Peterson. More...

USAF American agency overseeing development of rockets and spacecraft. United States Air Force, USA. More...

Associated Programs

STS The Space Transportation System (Space Shuttle) was conceived originally as a completely reusable system that would provide cheap, routine access to space and replace all American and civilian military launch vehicles. Crippled by technological overreach, political compromise, and budget limitations, it instead ended up costing more than the expendable rockets it was to have replaced. STS sucked the money out of all other NASA projects for half a century. The military abandoned its use after the Challenger shuttle explosion in the 1980's. More...